Workforce Modernization in Federal Financial Management
Written by: Tom Devine
More than 140,000 members of the federal financial workforce are charged with adapting to rapidly changing roles and processes. The integration of emerging technology has eliminated repetitive, low-skill tasks and created new opportunities for federal employees to expand their knowledge and skills. This reality brought about the CFO Workforce Modernization Working Group in 2019 to manage the needs of the federal financial workforce, namely modernization, career planning, and training.
Workforce Modernization Strategy
This collaborative working group has issued a 10-year initiative, the Workforce Modernization Strategy, which focuses on seven areas to be addressed in a phased approach.
In the near term, the Workforce Modernization Strategy is focused on leveraging data as a strategic asset, supporting the current workforce, and recruiting the future workforce.
- Integrating emerging technology will play a significant role in securely leveraging data as a strategic asset by increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of managing, analyzing, and presenting the government’s wealth of data to inform strategic decision-making.
- By cultivating a culture of continuous learning, agencies can better identify the untapped potential of the federal financial workforce. Investing in systems and tools that support the efforts of the current workforce enables them to optimize their contributions in data proficiency, analysis, and visualization while fostering a career-focused mindset.
- The success of the federal financial workforce modernization relies upon the government’s ability to develop and implement strategies to recruit the future workforce — a diverse group of highly skilled people to choose a career in the federal government. Some of the objectives identified include recruiting from academic and training institutions, collaborating across agencies, and promoting the federal government as a highly desirable employer. The intention is to highlight the opportunity to enjoy a meaningful career where skilled professionals can use their talents to solve complex financial challenges that benefit the American people.
The medium-term strategic goals for workforce modernization include adapting to technology and planning for succession.
- Adapting to technology within the federal financial workforce requires leveraging knowledge at many levels. Agencies must understand how to best leverage and share data to maximize value and minimize risk. At the same time, they should consistently provide learning opportunities that enable the financial workforce to embrace new tools and processes confidently.
- To avoid losing the vast institutional knowledge of career employees when they retire or otherwise leave the federal financial management community, agencies must develop and maintain succession planning that identifies critical knowledge and empowers employees to internalize legacy knowledge and apply it to future challenges through cross-agency training and mentorship.
Over the long term, the strategy focuses on facilitating culture change and building lasting partnerships.
- While the federal financial management workforce shifts its primary focus from compliance to data-driven decision-making, agencies need to identify, celebrate, and champion elements of their successes. They must align their strategies with cultural norms to ensure collaboration and community strength as they move forward.
- The federal financial management community must pursue value-adding relationships with national and international government entities, private sector organizations, and the academic community to expand their knowledge, mission readiness, and access to critical resources. This collaboration will expose potential highly talented employees to government service, augmenting agency recruiting efforts.
And finally, the Future Goals of the Workforce Modernization Strategy include many elements integral to the near-, medium-, and long-term goals:
- Data Management
- Technology Proficiency
- Continuous Learning
- Critical Thinking & Creativity
- Executive Communications & Decision Support
- Robotic Process Automation
- Business Process Improvement
- Project Management
- Contract Management
- Virtual Engagement
The CFO “Shape the Workforce” Working Group has been tasked with managing the development needs for the federal financial workforce with plans for 5, 10, and 20 years. The plans combine current and future federal financial management skills, providing federal professionals with a comprehensive career plan and training pathway.
Training Opportunities
Management Concepts has been wholly focused on providing learning opportunities for the federal government for nearly 50 years. In addition to financial management courses and certificate programs, we offer a wide array of courses in analytics, emerging technologies, project management, and leadership that directly address the Workforce Modernization Strategy areas and the efforts laid out by the CFO “Shape the Workforce” Working Group. Our Human Capital Advisory Services teams can also help establish mentoring programs and change management plans.
We greatly value the contribution of the federal financial management community, and we hope to have the opportunity to assist you in your career pursuits.